ED571 Advanced Doctoral Seminar on Theory and Research in Teacher Education

Investigates historical and contemporary issues around the design and implementation of pre-service and in-service teacher education, primarily in the United States. Addresses the challenges of contemporary teacher education to prepare teachers to teach in an increasingly diverse and globalized world by exploring what policy and research say about what teachers need to know, the kinds of instructional practices in which they need to be proficient, and how best to support them. Explores questions, such as: (1) What should be the balance in pre-service teacher education between (a) developing candidates’ awareness of student diversity along multiple dimensions and (b) developing candidates’ content knowledge and technical aspects of classroom management and lesson planning?; and (2) In terms of in-service teacher learning, how can school organizations support teachers to take up the kinds of challenging instructional practices that lead to student learning and disposition to learn? Explores multiple programmatic pathways and pedagogies, their impact on pre-service teachers’ knowledge and beliefs, and their relationships to educational policy. In terms of in-service teacher education, the course explores different modes of professional development, from teacher inquiry within classrooms to school-community partnerships, and the implications of professional development for teachers’ career trajectories and their work within a climate of high-stakes, test-based accountability.